Reports

Solar power can curb pollution, protecting public health and North Carolina’s environment. It can also drive North Carolina’s economy forward – creating jobs that can’t be outsourced, and launching new companies to manufacture and install solar power equipment.

Raleigh--In ten years, North Carolina has permanently protected more than 640,000 acres of parks, forests, farmlands, and such critical areas as Grandfather Mountain, Chimney Rock, and the banks of the Haw River. Yet, according to a new Environment North Carolina study, the state fell well short of a goal set by legislators and former Gov. Jim Hunt to reach the million-acre mark by December 31, 2009.

With sunlight on almost 250 days a year, solar energy is a real energy option for North Carolina. Based on rate of growth in solar installations experienced in other states and countries, North Carolina can install enough solar power over the next two decades to supply 2 percent of the state’s electricity by 2020, and 14 percent by 2030.

With sunlight on almost 250 days a year, solar energy is a real energy option for North Carolina. Based on rate of growth in solar installations experienced in other states and countries, North Carolina can install enough solar power over the next two decades to supply 2 percent of the state’s electricity by 2020, and 14 percent by 2030.

Combine the planet’s original energy source—the sun—with a simple, age-old technology, and you get reduced energy costs and less global warming pollution. That’s the calculation Mecklenburg County and dozens of local governments are making, according to a new report by Environment North Carolina Research & Policy Center.